Romance

I LOVE romance. Movies, music, and musicals, I love them all! Mother tells the story that when I was less than a year old, The Music Man was shown on TV. This was years before TIVO or even VHS. There was no owning of movies back then. When a movie came on TV that you wanted to see, you made time. You must understand that this movie is my mother's favorite musical. So when she discovered that it was coming on, she sat the three of us down; a five year old, a three year old, and a baby. According to her, we sat silently watching the movie with her. I don't know how we could have been that good or absorbed, but she believes that we timed our short attention spans to coincide with commercials. It's easy to believe it when you count the decades (I refuse to tell you the exact numbers) that have passed, but truth or not, that's my mother's story and she's sticking to it!

When I was in seventh grade, she put Lisa & I to bed early and woke us up at midnight to watch the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We had heard the plot and the songs for years, but had never been able to see the movie itself. Again, long before DVD's or videos. You could say that my passion for things romantic began at an early age! My mother taught us well. Someday, I might tell the story of how my brother, Richard, proposed to his wife, Janet. Though, in the words of Aslan, it isn't my story to tell, I love telling stories even more than I love romance.

Wednesday night, on the way home from church, Delilah was on the radio. Now, if you want romance, just tune in to her. She happened to play one of the most romantic songs there is... When I Fall In Love from Sleepless in Seattle. I turned it up so that I couldn't hear myself, sang along, and sighed at the end. Then I found another romantic song and sighed as I drove past downtown Birmingham, lights aglow and my romantic heart all aflutter. In looking for another song, I pressed the button for WDJC, the Christian Radio station. I honestly can't remember what song it was, but I was in the mood to sing along. Ok, I'm always in the mood to sing along, but I did. It was rejoicing in His love, His provision, and the fact that He never leaves us. Then it hit me. Which of those three songs was the most romantic? Which one told the whole story? Which love that was mentioned is eternal?

I started to analyze then. As fun as the flutters and sighs of romantic things are, they fade. Reality and real life intrude. His love is ever present through the monotony. Who breaks into song over morning breath and the direction of the toilet paper roll? His presence can be felt even during the frustrations of morning traffic. He is so much more than feelings, songs and night time sky scapes. He is eternal. He has made Himself availabe for those of us who have fallen in love, those of us who haven't and those of us whose hearts have been broken. He's more than any song, movie or feeling. He's better. So, next time we feel alone and loney, let's remember that we have with us the One who is the Author of romance.

In love,

Lara

Worship

What is worship to you? Is it something you do in church? Is it a noun? A verb? An adverb? Ok, enough with the grammar lesson! But the question remains, what do you do with worship? The Christian radio station in Birmingham, 93.7 WDJC, does an amazing thing every Sunday. They play only praise and worship music. I love waking up with such music every week. I wrote them several years back and let them know how much their station prepares me for the worship service at Liberty. But, again, the question remains, what do you do with worship? It can't just be reserved for Sundays. And just what does worship consist of? Music? Voices? Raised arms? Bent knees?

A couple of weeks ago, Lisa & I spent time with friends in Pensacola, FL. Our friend, Jennifer, and I were discussing our passions. Mine for writing and hers for dance. She was frustrated with the fact that she never seems to have time for dance any more. I was frustrated with myself in that I seem to find time for everything but writing. Why were we struggling to follow through in our passions? She blew me away when she referred to following her passion as worship! What if the cry of our hearts is to worship our Lord through our passion? When we write, dance, study our genealogy or even sew, are we worshipping? How about when some of you are writing computer programs, or teaching people about nutrition? Can these be forms of worship? Maybe we should think outside the box of hymns and Matt Redmon & Chris Tomlin songs.

He has given us these passions and drives. When we use them and work them, we are worshiping Him. The Lord commanded that the worshipers lead the way into battle. The walls of Jericho fell in response to obedience and worship. Working in our passion is a battle. There is nothing the enemy of our souls wants more than to keep us from His full plan for our lives. His plan includes using the talents and passions that He has placed within us. Using them brings glory to our Creator. And to glorify Him is to worship Him. Use your passion! Work at it as you would a muscle that requires strengthening. This can be painful and sweat filled. I don't like them, and you might not either. But to ignore them and avoid them glorifies the enemy. And he doesn't deserve our glory!

Maybe you don't struggle with this. Maybe I was just writing this to wake myself up. If so, then it's worth it. But surely there are more than just Jennifer and I who struggle with this. Take courage in your journey! You are not alone in your fight to enjoy and worship God with your passion! I am there and am working to build up this strength He has given me. Meanwhile, pop in a Tomlin cd and worship!

What's in a Name?

If I were to say the name Phelps, your mind would immediately swing towards the Olympics, a record breaking number of gold medals, swimming, or maybe even ADHD. Say May & Walsh, the same thing happens, although in a different sport and without the diagnosis of ADHD. Celebrities and politicians as well are now known by one name. Bond no longer has a corner on the market. But what is in a name? Shakespeare wrote that 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet'. Anne Shirley disagreed with his sentiment. She insisted that her name have an e on the end. Monica refused to change her last name to Bing. In my stories and scripts, I'm stumped until I find the perfect name for my characters. What does it matter?

If you take the time to google 'names of God', you will realize that they come up with 2,620,000 results. I have known and sat under many teachers who have made a study of His names and their meanings. Every language has a name for Him. To Moses, He said to tell Pharaoh 'I Am'. In learning prepositions, teachers and books inform children to picture a tree. Any word that prefaces this tree is usually a preposition. Do that with 'I Am...'

• I Am your comfort.
• I Am your refuge.
• I Am your fulfillment.
• I Am all that you need.

Those are just a few things that our Lord is. The list truly is endless. You might even say infinite. He is, you know. These last few weeks, I can't stop singing songs about His name.

"Your Name is a strong and mighty tower.

Your Name is a shelter like no other.

Your Name.

Let the nations sing it louder.

Nothing has the power to save,

but Your Name." Phillips, Craig & Dean

"Call My Name.

Say it now.

I want you to never doubt

The Love I have for you is so alive!

You just say My Name!" Third Day

What other Name brings freedom? What other Name breaks chains of depression and oppression? What other Name calls forth the hosts of heaven? Have there been times when whispering, calling, shouting or screaming His name felt useless? Honestly, yes. I felt no better. I sometimes even felt worse. But something begins to break when His Name is spoken. It may take a while to feel it, but He moves. He comes to His feet when we cry out to Him.

So, while the names of Olympic medalists are in the forefront of our minds now, His Name, His eternal Name outshines the brightest of athletes.

Nostalgia

A few posts back, I referred to my love of nostalgia. I love old movies, old books, old music and old friends. I enjoy thinking back and remembering past events. This has been on my mind a lot recently. I joined Facebook.com and have been reconnecting with so many of my old friends. Friends from Wilkes County, NC, as well as High Point, NC. So many that my brother, sister and I went to Liberty Bible/Christian College with, as well. Not to mention the various folks I've known through Liberty Church here in Birmingham and the family that I lived with in Japan. Years ago, Tricia Yearwood recorded a song called 'The Song Remembers When'. It's a beautiful song about lost love. It describes how just one song can transport you back to a certain moment. Isn't it amazing how a song, a picture, even a smell can take you back? I love those moments!

But I have a question. How much nostalgia is too much? The Old Testament tells us that the Lord commanded the Israelites to build monuments when He had carried them through something or when He had delivered them. But what about the times when we remember and treasure the wrong things? God didn't have them build a monument to Egypt, but when they were wandering, they kept longing for it. I wrote in my last post asking how slavery can be the 'good old days' and this post seems to carry that question on. What if we build monuments to the wrong things?

Maybe the long lost love who is now married? An abusive friendship? The devil we know as opposed to the one we don't? Do we occasionally crave the life of sin and slavery that we tossed aside to follow Christ? Are we letting His monuments gather dust and cobwebs while we polish the wrong ones? God is omnipresent and omnipotent. Yesterday, today and tomorrow are all the same to Him, He is in all three. We are not. We only have this moment to live in. Even if our good old days really were good, we are called to be His hands and feet now. How can I be His example today if I'm too busy listening to yesterday's music? Yesterday's conversations? Yesterday's relationships? We can't, and I think shouldn't, forget those parts of our past. They are the reasons that we are where and who we are now.

Balance is the key, of course. But how do you find something you're out of? Look to Him, our great Timekeeper. He holds all time in His hands. He's the One who built us through every step of our past. The Israelites looked back to all they previously had. Not to the One who delivered them. Therein lies the key. The monuments pointed heaven-ward. They were not reminders just of what had happened, but of Who had done the work. If we're too busy wondering about that long lost love what is are we missing that He has for us? If I'm too caught up in my old Cd's, what new artist or word am I missing? God is always trying to speak to us in new and exciting ways, but if we're too wrapped up in the old ways, will we hear Him?

Enjoy the monuments. Take a moment to remember what He's brought you through, but don't dally, you might miss something.

Trust the Numbers

I work in an endocrinologist's office and hear from our diabetic patients over and over how 'bad' they feel when their blood sugars are in normal ranges. You would think that 'normal' would feel good to them. On the contrary, once their body adjusts to extreme highs, normal feels as if they are dropping too low. They struggle with fatigue, dizziness and difficulty concentrating. That sounds like how I feel every morning! Have I mentioned that I'm not a morning person? Anyway, they panic. These bad feelings CAN"T be good?! Surely they were better off when their blood sugar was high?! It takes quite a bit of explaining by our nurses that they weren't better off. Their bodies are, in essence, lying to them. They can't trust these feelings. They need to trust the numbers.

I'm one of those 'feeling' people. In three years of Bible college, I only failed one course, Systematic Theology. Theology, science, math and all of those don't make sense to me. My brain doesn't work that way. As a little girl learning my numbers, the only way I could relate to them was to give the personalities and build stories around them. I'm not a bottom line kind of person. It's all about feelings and comfort for me. I can usually see multiple sides to an issue. While that can be a blessing, it makes some lessons He has for me harder. The Cross of Jesus Christ doesn't have multiple sides. There is only one way to our Heavenly Father. And believe me, these absolutes DON"T feel good! We get used to sin in our lives. It becomes the normal and we numb to it. When the Cross and Jesus' Blood are applied to us, it can hurt! The children of Israel weren't happy in the desert. In spite of the fact that they were slaves, they began to wish for the 'good old days'. How slavery can be referred to as good old days lets us know just how uncomfortable they felt. Again, they were basing everything on their feelings.

Consistently high blood sugars destroy the body's kidneys, eyes and nerves, just to name a few. Sin causes death, physical and spiritual. We can't listen to the feelings of our body when we start to gain control of blood sugar. We have to watch the glucose meter. It tells the truth while the body lies. When the heady excitement of following His new direction fades and the difficulty of it hits home, pull out the 'meter', His Word. Trust the numbers. They're rigid. They don't change. He doesn't change. His best is not reliant on our feelings. Trust the numbers.

Mirror Image

Have you ever known someone who complains constantly? Maybe someone who is self-absorbed? What about a martyr? Have you ever lived with, worked with or attended church with any or all of these folks? They're everywhere, aren't they? The churches I remember attending number somewhere around fifteen, and that doesn't even count the ones I've visited. The jobs I've held number somewhere around thirty, not counting various volunteer opportunities. In every one, with the exception of the different dog/house sitting jobs, I've worked with what preachers used to call 'holy sandpaper'. You know the ones. They 'rub' those rough edges off of us by getting on our last nerve. They, through their most annoying attributes, push us closer to who God is making us to be. We know they're out there. Every one of us is familiar with them. But what about when we see our own most annoying attributes in them?

A few years ago, I worked with a very nice girl. You wouldn't think she was sandpaper just to look at her and spend a little time with her. She was a hard worker who did her job well. She was funny and, most of the time, fun to be around. She had friends there, as well as those she wasn't fond of. She, in short, was just like the rest of us. But there was one thing she did that drove me crazy. She complained. Her drive into work was worse than everyone else's. Traffic was longer and more horrible on her way than any other. The management put more on her than anyone else. Her husband, her in-laws, her family was worse/better depending on her day. Many days, during my work experiene with her, I rolled my eyes and/or said to God, "Can you believe her? There she goes again!"

Now, I haven't often heard God speak. He usually speaks to me through His Word, the words of other people or through peace. But occasionally I will hear a still, small voice in my heart. The last time I complained about her to Him, was one of those times. He spoke to me and reminded me of how much I complain. He put a mirror in front of my face. I realized that my co-worker was a mirror image of myself. You see, they aren't always sand-paper. Sometimes they are mirrors. Sometimes they show us that what we don't like about them, are things that He wants to work out in ourselves. So next time that annoying person makes you count to ten, see if what they are doing is something that you do. It's not fun, but it does make the image in that mirror look a little more like Christ!

Provision

A couple of months ago, I began 'freaking out'. I know, I know, what a shock, huh? But what happened is that I realized that I had no options for the cover of my script book. Buying graphics and the rights to photos that look expensive were and are not anywhere in my budget. And those who could help me required more money that I had. I was sitting staring at my computer when it finally dawned on me to tell God about this. Why do we wait to do that? So, I told Him. Actually, I cried it out to Him in my heart. As if He were just waiting for me, I heard that still, small voice tell me to contact the Princess Sistas. With out waiting, I sent out a bunch of e-mails and they came to the rescue. After discussing it over supper and ice cream, we came up with Tina and Kathi's crosses paired with Marlene's camera and Lisa's ability to arrange things.

We used swatches of burlap that Lisa had used in decorating for different church projects. Lisa and Kathi arranged the crosses against them as well as black material. Marlene took photos of Tina's crosses individually and as a group. I couldn't have done anything without these amazing 'sistas' of mine. I wanted to show you their handiwork. You'll see, as I did, why God led me to recruit them. He truly does know best for us!

Marlene cleaned up the photos, gave them some cool effects, and made them look even better. And these are just two of them! I can't imagine them looking any better than if a professional had done them! Who would have thought? These are just two of the pictures. I couldn't figure out how to change the directions of the ones that weren't landscaped. I'll try to inclued more once I do

Don't forget to ask for His help. He's just waiting to show you His provision!